Refrigerating and air-conditioning apparatus

• US 9,222,711 B2
• Filed: 03/12/2010
• Issued: 12/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Inventors: Ochiai, Yasutaka, Unezaki, Fumitake
• Primary Examiner(s): Ciric, Ljiljana
• Assistant Examiner(s): COX, ALEXIS K
• Application Number:
  US13/579,969
• Publication Number:
  US 20120318011A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,118 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 2400/13 Economisers
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 2500/19 Calculation of parameters
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 2500/222 Detecting refrigerant leaks
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 2700/04 Refrigerant level
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 49/005 of safety devices F25B49/02 and F25B49/04 take precedence

Abstract

A refrigerating and air-conditioning apparatus including a refrigerant circuit, which in turn includes an outdoor unit, and an indoor unit, connected by an extension pipe. The apparatus further includes a control unit having a memory, and is configured to calculate an internal volume of the extension pipe and calculate a standard refrigerant amount, serving as a criterion for determining whether the refrigerant is leaked from the refrigerant circuit, on the basis of the calculated refrigerant extension pipe internal volume. The memory is configured to store the refrigerant extension pipe internal volume and the standard refrigerant amount. The control unit is configured to calculate a total amount of refrigerant in the refrigerant circuit on the basis of the refrigerant extension pipe internal volume stored in the memory and operation data measured during normal operation, and compare the calculated total refrigerant amount with the standard refrigerant amount stored in the memory to determine whether refrigerant is leaked.

Claims

1. A refrigerating and air-conditioning apparatus comprising:

a refrigerant circuit including an outdoor unit, serving as a heat source unit, and an indoor unit, serving as a use side unit, connected by a refrigerant extension pipe;

a plurality of temperature sensors and a plurality of pressure sensors;

a control unit having a memory configured to store data, the control unit configured to;

measure, as operation data, a temperature and a pressure of a refrigerant in a plurality of locations of the refrigerant circuit excluding the refrigerant extension pipe;

determine if, an operation state indicated by operation data measured by the control unit during normal operation meets an operation data acquisition requirement;

acquire the operation data as initial learning operation data if the control unit determines the operation state meets the operation data acquisition requirement;

perform a process of calculating calculation data items including an amount of refrigerant in parts other than the refrigerant extension pipe and a density of refrigerant in the refrigerant extension pipe on the basis of the initial learning operation data;

calculate the internal volume of the extension pipe on the basis of a group of the calculation data items acquired by the process of calculating;

calculate a standard refrigerant amount, serving as a criterion for determining whether the refrigerant is leaked from the refrigerant circuit, on the basis of the calculated refrigerant extension pipe internal volume and the initial learning operation data;

store the refrigerant extension pipe internal volume and the standard refrigerant amount in the memory; and

calculate a total amount of refrigerant in the refrigerant circuit on the basis of the refrigerant extension pipe internal volume stored in the memory and operation data measured by the control unit during normal operation, and compare the calculated total refrigerant amount with the standard refrigerant amount stored in the memory to determine whether the refrigerant is leaked.

2. The refrigerating and air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control unit forms, on the basis of the group of calculation data items, an approximate expression indicating the relationship between the extension-pipe refrigerant density and the refrigerant amount in the parts other than the extension pipe, and obtains the absolute value of the slope of the approximate expression as the refrigerant extension pipe internal volume.

3. The refrigerating and air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1,

wherein the refrigerant extension pipe includes a liquid refrigerant extension pipe and a gas refrigerant extension pipe, and

wherein the control unit multiplies a gas-refrigerant extension pipe refrigerant density, calculated on the basis of operation data, by a predetermined coefficient of a relational expression indicating that the internal volume of the gas refrigerant extension pipe is equal to the product of the internal volume of the liquid refrigerant extension pipe and the predetermined coefficient, and adds a liquid-refrigerant extension pipe refrigerant density, calculated on the basis of operation data, to the product of the gas-refrigerant extension pipe refrigerant density and the predetermined coefficient to obtain the refrigerant extension pipe refrigerant density.

4. The refrigerating and air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control unit determines, as a final calculation of the refrigerant extension pipe internal volume, the refrigerant extension pipe internal volume calculated using a group of calculation data items in which the difference between maximum and minimum values of the refrigerant extension pipe refrigerant density is greater than or equal to a certain value.

5. The refrigerating and air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1, wherein when the calculated refrigerant extension pipe internal volume lies within a range of predetermined upper and lower limits, the control unit determines this refrigerant extension pipe internal volume as a final calculation of the refrigerant extension pipe internal volume.

6. The refrigerating and air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control unit is further configured to have a remote monitoring function for transmitting data indicating the presence or absence of refrigerant leakage to a control center through a communication line.

7. The refrigerating and air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1, wherein the operation data acquisition requirement includes a requirement in which fluctuations of each operation state are within a predetermined range, the operation states indicating the operating frequency of a compressor, the opening degree of an expansion valve, and the rotation speed of a fan attached to each of an indoor heat exchanger and an outdoor heat exchanger, the compressor, the expansion valve, and the indoor and outdoor heat exchangers serving as components of the refrigerating and air-conditioning apparatus.

8. The refrigerating and air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1, comprising a high-pressure sensor, wherein the operation data acquisition requirement includes a requirement in which a value indicated by the high-pressure pressure sensor that detects the pressure of a high-pressure refrigerant in the refrigerant circuit is greater than or equal to a certain value, and a value indicated by a low-pressure pressure sensor that detects the pressure of a low-pressure refrigerant in the refrigerant circuit is less than or equal to a certain value.

9. The refrigerating and air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1, wherein the operation data acquisition requirement includes a requirement in which the width of fluctuations of the difference between a refrigerant temperature in an indoor heat exchanger in the indoor unit and an indoor temperature is within a predetermined range, and the width of fluctuations of the difference between a refrigerant temperature in an outdoor heat exchanger in the outdoor unit and an outdoor temperature is within a predetermined range.

10. The refrigerating and air-conditioning apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

wherein the control is configured to transmit data indicating a result of determination by the determination section to an external device.

11. The refrigerating and air-conditioning apparatus of claim 2, wherein the control unit provides a predetermined range of data used for the formed approximate line, the range lying between upper and lower limits of the refrigerant amount in the parts other than the refrigerant extension pipe, eliminates data outside the range to recalculate the approximate line, and determines, as a final calculation of the refrigerant extension pipe internal volume, the absolute value of the slope of the recalculated approximate expression.